Even a casual review of the literature on trust reveals a cacophony of issues on the subject. From the list below, which one to three issues would you consider most significant
– to you as an information professional
– to you as a consumer of information
when evaluating a website? Why?

– The privacy policy maintained by a website that asks for personal information
– The presence of a logo from a third party organization certifying a site is trustworthy, such as Verisign
– The interests of an electronic retailer in mining data on the information behavior of visitors to its own website
– The interests of an electronic retailer in monitoring data on the information behavior of Internet users in general
– The influence of the blogosphere on a public’s willingness to trust a piece of information
– The environment rich with personal data created by social networking sites such as MySpace, Xanga, Friendster, or LinkedIn
– How perceptions of trust change from culture to culture

Should online retailers or search engines be deterred from mining usage data from their websites, or from monitoring trends in how Internet users are using the Internet as a whole? Are there benefits to allowing an online retailers or search engine to mine data? If so, how far should these sites be allowed to go in terms of collecting personal data? When should they be required to stop?

Here are some articles relating to this discussion:

Wakefield, R., and Whitten, D. 2006. Examining User Perceptions of Third Party Organization Credibility and Trust in an E-retailer. Journal of Organizational and End User Computing, v. 18: 2.

Is it acceptable for a government to monitor channels of digital information, including personal information, that pass within its borders? If a government has a legitimate interest in doing so, how may it build trust among its citizens that it is not unnecessarily monitoring their communications or collecting their personal information? When should a government have its powers in this regard limited?

In the case of the current wiretapping operatings in the U.S. (outlined in this article by Dan Mitchell in The New York Times), to what extent should people around the world be concerned that the U.S. Government may be monitoring their Internet communications?

(The NY times requires a login to read their articles online. Creating a login and password for the NY Times is free and may be done here).

Should a government be allowed to (try to) censor information that its citizens receive? Are there circumstances under which this practice should be considered explicitly acceptable or explicitly unacceptable?